


every beautiful story, it's you

by kyomohokus



Category: SixTONES (Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe - College/University, Alternate Universe - Soulmates, Friends to Lovers, M/M, Red String of Fate
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-02
Updated: 2020-10-02
Packaged: 2021-03-08 02:13:52
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,588
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26767828
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/kyomohokus/pseuds/kyomohokus
Summary: They were skeptical about the whole soulmates thing.Until the red string of fate binds them together.
Relationships: Kyomoto Taiga/Matsumura Hokuto
Comments: 6
Kudos: 27
Collections: KyomoHokku Soulmate Edition





	every beautiful story, it's you

**Author's Note:**

  * For [rinnenotsubasa](https://archiveofourown.org/users/rinnenotsubasa/gifts).



> Hello! So this is my attempt to write a soulmates AU because I've honestly never written one before. To my recipient, I hope you like it! >.<

“I don’t believe the whole soulmate thing works.”

Kyomoto Taiga speaks it with such finality that it startles Hokuto. The man before him is sipping the coffee on his mug, his gaze on the window as he watches people passing by.

It’s a sunny day, and the people have replaced coats and jackets with thinner layers of clothing, a sign that summer is approaching. For people Hokuto’s age, it means a couple of weeks dedicated to studying for finals in preparation for the end of the spring semester.

And he’s supposed to be studying, but this meeting with Kyomoto Taiga at the university café is urgent.

“I don’t believe in it, either,” Hokuto declares. His cup is practically half-empty at this point, all gone while he waited for Taiga to arrive. The man before him was late, having had to finish something for his work at a cram school.

“Despite this?”

Taiga raises his hand, showing the thick, red string wrapped around his pinky finger. If Hokuto followed the trail of the string, it would connect to the same red string wrapped around his own tiny finger.

It’s a long-known fact that red strings would appear to a person upon meeting their soulmate. It could happen at any time, whether you’re a child or at the brink of your death.

Many people have waited to meet their soulmates their whole lives. It’s the subject of various books, movies, and drama. Two people would pass by each other, only to feel a slight tug, a sign that your soulmate is within an arm’s reach.

Hokuto had seen the excitement over soulmates in his friends. He had been witness to the way his close friend Jesse's eyes sparkled when he met his soulmate, Kochi Yugo, at university orientation.

“I can’t deny that it’s going to happen, but that doesn’t mean I accept it.”

The edge of Taiga’s lips tug up, and he chuckles. “Guess we’re soulmates in the sense we’re on the same page.”

Hokuto had expected it to happen, of course, because it’s the natural course of things.

It happened to him and Taiga three days ago.

Hokuto had gone with Jesse and Kochi to a birthday party by a common friend, Shintaro. It turns out that Shintaro, a year below him, is friends with Taiga and Juri, who had been working part-time in a cram school that Shintaro attended.

They were introduced to each other, and suddenly, the red strings connecting them gradually materialized.

In ordinary situations, the two newly met soulmates would gaze into each other’s eyes, feel a rush of emotion, and leap into each other’s arms. Others would share shy giggles. And most of the time, it results in applause from everyone in the room.

But Hokuto and Taiga are different. Their gazes did meet, sure, but Taiga had excused himself and had run away.

Which was why Hokuto was surprised when he received a text message from Taiga the next day, asking if they could meet.

Hokuto took the chance to meet Taiga, anyway. If there’s anything he learned, soulmates will always find their way to each other. As much as they don’t like the idea of soulmates, they’ll run into each other more often than they want.

“I hate the idea of having someone you’re predestined to love and spend the rest of your life forever with. It’s like you don’t have a choice in the matter.”

Taiga nods, sipping his drink once more. “It’s like you want to be with someone who you chose, right? Having someone destined for you could make you take the relationship for granted.”

“Precisely.”

Another nod. “And just because someone is destined for you doesn’t mean the relationship is going to work in the end.”

Hokuto feels the sting in Taiga’s words, as if the reason why he doesn’t believe in soulmates comes from something deeply rooted. But Taiga never offered an explanation, and Hokuto doesn’t bother asking.

“Why did you ask me to meet?” Hokuto finally asks the question that has made him curious since a few days ago.

Taiga sets down his cup and crosses his arms. “Because as much as I hate the idea of soulmates, you and I see each other often. We have common friends, like Shin, and your roommate’s boyfriend shares the same major with my best friend.

“I don’t want this soulmates thing, but I don’t want to ruin friendships because of it. So I’m offering friendship, Matsumura Hokuto. I hope that we can  _ at least _ get along.”

Hokuto chuckles.

“What’s so funny?” Taiga asks, brows furrowed.

He shakes his head. “You could have just texted me instead of meeting up with me, you know. Or maybe we could have talked when we run into each other,” he points out. “You didn’t have to make an effort to meet me in person.”

“It would have been easier to get it out of the way early on.” Taiga rolls his eyes. “So, what do you say?”

It seems reasonable. If Hokuto’s going to suffer this whole soulmates thing, he might as well get something positive out of it.

“Alright, then, Kyomoto Taiga. Let’s be friends.”

  
  


Hokuto welcomes having a new friend. That’s the point of being in university, right? Widening your network that will hopefully open new opportunities when you graduate and start looking for work.

And that’s how he sees Taiga, a friend among a few close ones.

Since they’ve been introduced as soulmates, they have been seeing each other more often. It turns out that they share a related major, so they actually take common classes together. Only, Taiga usually sits at the back, sometimes distracted from class by chatting with friends.

As the school year goes on, he has come to realize that Kyomoto Taiga is an okay person.

Maybe “okay” is an understatement.

Taiga is … to put it lightly, brilliant. He’s like this planet where stars revolve around him, drawn to his charm. Boys and girls alike fawn over his good looks and his incredible singing talent. Every time he walks in a room, he gets cheerful greetings, and he reciprocates the gesture with a smile and a wave.

“His soulmate will be the luckiest person in the world,” he had heard the occasional whispers.

Despite his cynicism toward soulmates, Hokuto finds himself smiling when he hears those words.

  
  


They see each other again at the start of the fall semester. Hokuto is early in the lecture hall when someone hovers beside him.

“Mind if we share a seat?”

When he looks up, Taiga is looking at him expectantly, textbook clutched to his chest.

Somehow, Hokuto’s heart leaps at the sight. He shakes his head and shifts his seat forward so Taiga can make his way to the seat next to him.

“Thanks.” Taiga smiles at him before focusing his attention on his phone.

Since then, they’ve spent more time with each other. Hokuto and Taiga are often paired together with group projects, even if Taiga has more interesting friends. He, Jesse, and Kochi end up hanging out with Taiga, Juri, and Shintaro in the study hall or the cafeteria, and as much as Hokuto finds it strange, he doesn’t mind it the least bit.

  
  


The change of heart came in the middle of autumn.

“Come watch me perform at the university café,” Taiga tells him over the end of class one day. “It’s an open mic night, and I’m performing a couple of new songs.”

Hokuto has been in a couple of on-campus open mic nights, but strangely, he hasn’t seen Taiga there before. He has a couple of papers to do, but they’re not due in two weeks, so … “Okay. What time should I be there?”

If anything, seeing Taiga’s smile is worth it.

The café is crowded when Hokuto arrives, but luckily, Jesse and Kochi manage to save him a seat. As always, Juri and Shintaro are already there, discussing Christmas plans. Taiga arrives not long after, hair pulled up to a half-ponytail and a guitar bag slung to his shoulder.

They briefly meet gazes, and Hokuto feels that leap in his heart again.

Soon, Taiga is called to the platform in front of the café, and the crowd breaks into loud applause. He talks for a bit before introducing the context of his new songs.

Then, he strums the guitar and starts to play. Taiga closes his eyes, and his singing voice echoes all over the café.

Taiga’s voice is, without a doubt, beautiful and sweet. It’s impossible not to be drawn in by his voice, not to mention the message of the song. One of the songs is the determination to feel less cynical and less scared, and it spoke to Hokuto in some way.

When Taiga finishes performing, he’s suddenly surrounded by friends and strangers, gushing to him about his performance. Taiga smiles and chats with them until Juri takes it upon himself to drag Taiga away.

“That was amazing,” Hokuto tells Taiga the moment he joins the others on the table.

Taiga smiles at him, his cheeks flushed, and maybe, just maybe, Hokuto becomes less cynical.

  
  


Another shift, a week later.

They’re paired up to do a paper for class, and they both agree that it’s easier to pair up because they’re seated next to each other.

“We should start with the draft,” Hokuto proposes by the time class is over and the professors had dismissed them. Like their other classmates, they stay behind to discuss their plans over the paper.

“Library, then?” Taiga says.

Hokuto has another class in an hour after this. “You can do a head start, if you want. I’ll catch up with you after a couple of hours.”

Hokuto finds Taiga in the library a couple of hours later, stacks of books piled on his table. He smiles and waves when Hokuto approaches. “I might have come across some helpful sources,” he announces.

“Thank you.” Hokuto smiles as he takes a seat, opening his bag and taking out everything he needs. “I can take it from here. You must be exhausted.”

“Nah, this is a team effort, and I’m not letting you take all the credit.” Taiga chuckles, standing up to stretch. “I  _ am  _ gonna get some coffee, though. Want some?”

“I already drank too much coffee for today, so I’ll pass.”

“Alright, suit yourself.”

Hokuto didn’t get coffee, but Taiga  _ does _ lay down a paper bag with a croissant next to him.

It’s the smallest of gesture that has Hokuto’s heart racing.

  
  


“Is it weird to change your mind about the whole soulmates thing?”

Taiga says it in a moment of comfortable silence as they finish their paper in a café, the same place where they promise to be friends. It’s already close to closing time, and they’re wrapping up the last few pages of their paper. The editing can wait, but the important part is that they finished before the deadline, so they have more time to edit and fine-tune their work.

Hokuto looks up from his laptop, slightly more awake than when he was staring at the screen. Taiga is stirring his iced coffee with his straw, eyebrows furrowed. “We’ve never talked about the whole soulmates thing in a while,” he remarks.

“Yeah …” Taiga’s face has a pink tinge to it; it’s honestly adorable. “I just …”

Taiga trails off at that point, so Hokuto speaks up. “Just what?”

A sigh comes from his companion. “My parents divorced,” he replies. “They’re soulmates, tied with a red string. They thought that being soulmates would bind them forever, but in the end … it didn’t.”

_ Oh. _ Now, it makes sense why Taiga was so skeptical of the soulmates concept. It’s not the same skepticism Hokuto has; this one definitely is deep-rooted.

“But …” Taiga looks up and meets his gaze, bright eyes full of fire. “I’m not my parents,” he declares, puffing out his chest. “And even though I’m scared that I might end up like them,  _ you _ … you make me want to try.”

Hokuto lets out a breath he didn’t know he had been holding. “Even if there’s a chance that we would take each other for granted?” he asks.

“Well, now that we know we could take each other for granted, that just means we’ll do our best not to, right?”

Taiga lays down his hand on the table, palm facing up, ready for Hokuto’s hand to take. And Hokuto does. Taiga’s fingers are calloused, maybe from picking the guitar strings, but it’s a sensation Hokuto realizes he wants to feel more in the future.

“I supposed we’re going to have to try, then.”

  
  


Their first date as soulmates happens with dinner and a movie. It’s too simple, Hokuto thinks, but safe enough to get to know each other better. Taiga mentions his love for anime, and they ended up picking an animated film, and his surprising cravings for tomatoes.

“That’s a strange craving,” Hokuto comments.

Taiga scrunches his nose, and it’s honestly adorable. “Is that a deal-breaker?” he asks.

Hokuto chuckles and shakes his head. “No, definitely not.”

After dinner and a movie, they’re too reluctant to head home yet. Taiga lives outside the campus, a twenty-minute walk away from the cinema and a ten-walk away from Hokuto’s dorm, and they walk slowly as they talk in between comfortable gaps of silence.

Is this what having a soulmate feels like? Hokuto wonders. Or maybe this is just the initial high of discovering one’s soulmate? He’s very sure it wouldn’t be like this every day. Taiga takes some things lightly while Hokuto takes some things too seriously. How are they going to handle trivial and serious arguments? How are they going to handle tendencies of wanting to walk away from this whole soulmate thing?

But Taiga said he wants to try, so Hokuto resolves to try, too.

“Well, here we are.”

They stop in front of an apartment complex, and Hokuto realizes that they had been holding hands throughout the walk. Hokuto looks down at their intertwined hands and is reluctant to let go of Taiga’s hand. 

“Here we are,” he repeats, voice hollow.

Neither of them speaks for a moment, as if waiting for each other to make some kind of move. Then, Taiga is going on his tiptoes and his face is too close…

So Hokuto closes his eyes and meets Taiga halfway.

It was just a momentary brush of the lips, but electricity courses throughout Hokuto’s body. His hands snake around Taiga’s waist, pulling him closer. He smiles into the kiss when he hears Taiga’s satisfied hum.

When they pull away, a pink flush is visible on Taiga’s cheeks. “Come upstairs?” he offers.

And, well, Hokuto learns that he could never say no to Taiga.

  
  


“Guys, you’re among friends? Tone down the PDA or maybe get a room?”

“They’re not gonna listen to you, Shin. It’s all the pent-up sexual tension they’ve been feeling since they found out they were soulmates.”

Taiga pulls away from him and glares at Juri. “Shut up.”

“Yeah, yeah, but get your asses off the couch. Dinner’s ready.”

Taiga huffs, getting off the couch and holding out his hand for Hokuto. “Some friends they are,” he remarks when he pulls Hokuto up.

“Well, it  _ is _ kind of true …”

Taiga gives him a half-exasperated, half-fond look. “If you weren’t my soulmate, I swear …”

“But I am.” Hokuto laughs as he dodges a swat on the arm, letting himself be pulled to the kitchen, where the others are waiting.


End file.
